Nature-Inspired people/pet names

I’ve seen a lot of people here discussing the names of various species recently, so I’d like to expand that conversation in another direction: people/pet names. Personally, I’m someone who pays a fair bit of attention to names. I don’t plan on having children and I don’t adopt new pets frequently so I don’t get to pick out names for personal purposes very often, but I notice them a lot on other people.

I’m especially fond of names with a natural element to them, so I was wondering what your opinions were on various nature-inspired names and if you had any you enjoyed. So what are your favorite nature-inspired names? Because iNat has a lot of users that are familiar with species or groups of species many laypeople would not be aware of, I suspect some of you will have some unique and otherwise under-appreciated responses to this question!

I’ll give some examples to get us started, placed under here so this post doesn’t get too long:

Names

Plant-inspired:

  • Aspen
  • Rose
  • Willow
  • Ivy
  • Sage

Insect-inspired:

  • Atticus and/or Atlas
  • Luna
  • Isabella
  • Charlotte (Note the Charlotte’s and Isabella tiger moths)
  • Lucilia

Mammal/Ave/Other-inspired:

  • Robin
  • Nerodia (Maybe a nice middle/last name?)
  • Adelie
  • Raven
  • Amanita
  • Fawn
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Wren, Jay, BEKI (belted kingfisher birding code)
Daisy, Lilly

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I always have a hard time internet browsing the Genus Aurelia because of how common a name it is.

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Lily is a nostalgic one for me. When I was a kid bringing home my first dog as a puppy for the first time, she quickly started digging in our garden. She had a special affinity for digging up the lilies so we ended up naming her Lily. She was a black lab and a great partner on all of my childhood adventures. :)

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Oh I forgot that was a genus! I think that’s one of my favorite names!

I had a pet bunny that was called Sielmann… after my childhood idol and imaginary grandfather substitute after my own died so early (and on the side he was also a nature documentarist :-))

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinz_Sielmann

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Big chunk of old names were connected with nature, some just straight-up same words as names of animals or plants (e.g. Лебедь - swan, Щука - pike, Орех - nut, pretty much any animal could be used as a name), or close to that (Голуба - from голубка - female pigeon). Using them now often would be weird, Ivy sounds as a regular English name, but how many boys there’re with a name Cat?

My wife named her first dog Zephyr which refers to a gentle breeze from the West. But it was inspired by the dog’s frequent flatulence.

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a great-niece has named her daughters Willow and Lily (husband called their son Parker for a footballer) so I guess it was her turn to choose.

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We named our daughter Sora (https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/162-Porzana-carolina) and our dog Aspen (https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/54840-Populus-tremuloides)

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I would have never considering using an acronym formed by a banding code, but that’s brilliant!

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Sora is lovely! I was not familiar with this bird before but it’s a beautiful name!

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Not sure if this works both ways, but the bee balm genus, Melissa?

I love this topic and it’s so timely for me as I’m actually expecting my first child and am especially fond of nature names! Maybe I will find some inspiration here :blush:

A few relevant names I’ve been thinking of/compiling in my head:

Silas (“of the forest”) and related Sylvia
Fox
Wolf
Raven
Hawthorn
Kestrel
Melissa (as in Melissa officinalis)
Althea (as in Althea officinalis)
Holly
Juniper
Robin
Wren
River
Oceana

If I think of more I’ll come back and add. Enjoying everyone’s contributions so far!

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Silas (“of the forest”) and related Sylvia

On that note, I love the name Sylvan!

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I’ve heard Rana used as a first name before, which is think is cute, though I guess you’d have to like frogs…

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I have a friend named Lark

I had a cat named Tigerlily, a tiger striped cat with spots on her belly reminiscent of those on the flower. Also a character from Peter Pan which I was a fan of at that age.

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I sometimes give chickens in my flock names that are nature-inspired.

I’ve had (or still have) the following:
Willow, Maple, Rowan
Minnow
Flora
Cotton
Marigold, Petunia, Poppy, Rose
Raven

I have also had pet rabbits named Almond, Sable, Zinnia, and Maple.

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Ooh, definitely adding that to my list! :smiling_face:

My entire name translates to “Beloved rabbit of the forest meadow” so I think that counts for sure.

My dog’s name is “rescue” in Sindarin because she is my working K9 SAR partner so that’s nerdy if not naturey but I think of elves as nature so Elvin language works right?

ETA: Oh! And my first name does also share with a moth genus so there! I sometimes joke the moths were named after me :P

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